Toby Mills

Toby Mills
File:TobyMills.jpg
Hollyoaks character
Portrayed by	Henry Luxemburg
Duration	2001–2003
First appearance	14 November 2001
Last appearance	5 November 2003
Introduced by	Jo Hallows
Spin-off appearances	Hollyoaks: Leap of Faith
Classification	Former; regular
Profile
Occupation	Student Barman Mechanic
Family Mother Linda Mills Wife Ellie Mills (2003)

Search Toby Mills on Amazon.

Toby Mills is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Henry Luxemburg. The character debuted on-screen during the episode broadcast on 14 November 2001. He made his final appearance as Toby during the episode broadcast on 5 November 2003.

Casting

Luxemburg auditioned and secured the role of Toby six months after he had graduated from drama school. In an interview with Steve Pratt from The Northern Echo, he reminisced about his "relief" felt when putting his skill set learned at drama school to use. Luxemburg recalled that he learned a lot when he assumed the role, adding "everything I was taught was falling into place."

Development

Toby is introduced into the series as a university student at the Hollyoaks Community College studying Cultural Studies. He also takes part-time employment as a barman at the Dog in the Pond pub. On the show's official website, Toby is described as being "not scared to take a risk, but a loyal friend." Toby's development into a serial killer played largely into his characterisation. Luxemburg was never worried about being typecast as a fictional serial killer because of the younger demographic Hollyoaks was created for. He revealed that many in the industry did not automatically associate him with the role.

Toby begins to hatch a plan to rid of Steph in case she regains her memory. Stenson told Steve Hendry from Sunday Mail that she was unsure if Steph would regain her memory. She explained "she is desperate to remember what happened to her... and Toby obviously doesn't want her to."

Toby and Ellie were featured in the late night special spin-off show titled Hollyoaks: Leap of Faith. It focused on Toby's comeuppance and death. It features a series of stunts which were performed by body doubles hired by Hollyoaks production. Steve Truglia, a stuntman and former SAS soldier played the role of Toby during the stunts. On-screen Toby was depicted as being run over by a car, jumping across unconnected high-rise building and falling from a roof-top ledge. Truglia filmed all the stunts which involved him being hit by a speeding car. He also performed a fifteen foot jump between two seventy-five foot rooftops and threw himself backwards from a one-hundred foot building in Liverpool city centre. At the time, the building fall was biggest physical stunt ever performed on a British soap opera.

The rooftop jumps were difficult because of the short pace run up prior to jumping. Truglia told a Wanstead and Woodford Guardian journalist that there was an airbag at the bottom of gapped building in case he miss and fell off the building. The main one-hundred foot fall stunt which kills Toby, required Truglia to fall the distance for real. He had to concentrate and perform the stunt with precision to land on a crash mat positioned on the pavement below. Truglia found this difficult because the scripts required him to make it appear as though Toby accidentally slips and falls from the building. He worked alongside stuntwoman Holly Lumsden who doubled as Ellie for the rooftop fall stunt. Truglia also had to wear a wig during the stunts to match the character's appearance. Truglia later assessed that it was "one of the most dangerous stunts" he had ever performed. He added that the episode's directors "made the whole job run smoothly and in a relaxed manner."

Storylines

Toby first appears as the friend of Dan Hunter (Andrew McNair). The pair are arrested when they have a fight outside The Dog in the Pond public house with Adam Morgan (David Brown) and Jamie Nash (Stefan Booth). Toby moves to the village to help the Hunter family search for Ellie Hunter (Sarah Baxendale), when she went missing in Ibiza. He begins working at The Dog with Izzy Cornwell (Elize du Toit) and begins living there. Toby is shocked when Ellie returns to the village. Ellie warns Toby that when they had sex she may have given him gonorrhoea. Ellie tells her brother, Dan, and her father Les (John Graham Davies), who attack Toby. Toby keeps his distance from Ellie. He begins dating Mandy Richardson (Sarah Jayne Dunn), but the relationship ends when Toby claims that Mandy is too possessive. Toby leaves college and begins to work part-time at The Loft. However, Ellie is the manager at The Loft, which resulted in some tension between her and Toby. Dan advised Toby to not let her get to him, but with Ellie flirting with The Loft's boss Scott Anderson (Daniel Hyde), Toby could not help feeling jealous.

Toby soon discovered that Ellie's parents had thrown her out and he offered her a place to stay at The Dog. The pair began dating again, but Toby still disliked Ellie working for Scott. Soon Scott sacked her and Toby also quit his job at the Loft. Toby’s mum Linda arrived, and she caused a stir in his relationship with Ellie. Ellie put Toby under pressure to choose between her or his mother. Toby made a difficult decision, and decided it was Ellie he wanted to be with and he told his mother that he'd had enough of her interfering. Toby was then worried when Ellie decided to go on a reality TV program called the Fish Tank. Toby made her promise not to flirt with any men there. During Ellie's experience of The Fish Tank, rumours started to spread around the village that Ellie had slept with someone. Toby became angry by Ellie's actions and was frustrated that Ellie had not kept her promise. Toby demanded Chloe Bruce (Mikyla Dodd) allow Ellie to get out of the Fish Tank, otherwise his relationship was over with her. Ellie was allowed out for an hour, and Toby told her that he was getting impatient and angry by Ellie's lies. Ellie got upset about how little Toby thought of her, and told him that she slept with everyone.

Toby then murdered a woman called Roxy at the River Dee. Toby was unwilling to take any responsibility for his actions. After the murder he went home and looked into a mirror and, seemingly, argued with himself, blaming someone else for his actions and telling himself that he is good. Over the next few days Toby felt guilty and especially when Ellie returned and convinced him to give their relationship one last try. A week later, Dan told Toby that he had slept with Roxy, and the police had found her body. The blame of Roxy's death went to Toby's best friend Dan after he slept with her, hours before she was murdered. Toby's best friend and Ellie's brother Dan had been arrested, but with the help of Toby’s guilt, Toby provided Dan with a good solicitor as Dan had been soon released. There was not much evidence against Dan and he was released. When Toby's mother returns she tries to convince him that Ellie is cheating on him. In anger, he struck again this time on teenager Steph Dean (Carley Stenson) leaving her there for dead but the crime was witnessed and he was followed by his mother Linda. After a confrontation with his mother, Toby lashed out pushing her down the stairs. This had left Toby astonished of what he'd done, and when Ellie arrived the pair managed to make the incident look more like an accident. When the police arrived they told Toby that Linda was dead and further bad news for Toby was that Steph was alive but suffering with memory loss. Toby was left scared of the truth being discovered and feeling guilty after Steph had developed epilepsy post-attack, a condition which she would battle for the rest of her life. He then killed around 11 more blonde girls between July 2002 and October 2003. In order for Toby to stop killing these girls, he needed Ellie to be more committed to him and decided to marry her. Ellie was delighted as the pair got married in a low profile wedding without inviting Ellie’s parents. Steph continues to make progress and begins regaining her memory. Toby confesses to Ellie leaving her frightened and afraid of his next move. Toby was also scared that Ellie would tell the police or her family and stopped her from leaving his flat.

In the late-night special Hollyoaks: Leap of Faith, Ellie could no longer cope with Toby and ran off to Liverpool, with Toby close in her wake. Ellie confronted him and Toby promised that he would hand himself in, but he just wanted to enjoy his last few hours with her. After the hours went by, Toby caught Ellie trying to get in contact with her brother which made Toby furious. Toby decided to bet with Ellie whether their love could survive anything, and suggested they each jump onto the opposite roof building. Ellie, however, was concerned as Toby continued to get increasingly aggressive. Dan arrived in time to witness Toby harming Ellie. In order to save his sister's life, Dan pushed Toby off the building, where he landed in the road and was hit by a car. This was witnessed by several people, including Ellie and Dan's sister Lisa, who had come with Dan to rescue Ellie. Toby later dies.

Reception

In 2003, the character was nominated for Best Bad Boy at the Inside Soap Awards. The following year, Toby's death and Dan's trial for his murder received a nomination for Best Storyline.

On 18 September 2020, Channel 4 chose the episode centric to Toby taking Ellie hostage in their flat as part of their Hollyoaks Favourites series. The series features what the broadcaster deemed "classic episodes". The BBC ran a poll to determine television's "Best Villain" in 2003. Toby was rated as the eighth best out of a list of twenty villains. Katie Byrne from Digital Spy ranked Toby at nine in her list of Hollyoaks' "nine scariest killers". She opined belongs to "far-away era" of the show and branded his killing style as "throwback terror". Byrne described a gritty end to the character, stating "you know things are about to get dark when the conclusion of a storyline is played out in a late-night one-off episode." Emma Clayton from Telegraph & Argus believed that Luxemburg's performance as a serial killer "struck terror into the hearts of millions of viewers." She branded Toby a "charming but deadly" character. Tina Miles (Chester Chronicle) included Toby in the top three "most sinister serial killers" ever featured in the show.

Claire Miller and Ian Hughes writing for Cambridge News branded Toby "Hollyoaks' most prolific serial killer - the soap has seen seven so far." They added the murder rate on the show was "reasonably quiet" until Toby was introduced. Frances Ewings from Metro named him "possessive" and "the soap's most prolific murderer" who had a "reign of terror" on the show. Ewings also questioned the plausibility of a serial killer who just murders blonde haired females, when in reality the female characters could dye their hair brown for protection.

External links

• Character profile at Hollyoaks.com

This article "Toby Mills" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Toby Mills. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

This page exists already on Wikipedia.

---